After running through the museum very quickly we took a taxi back to the express bus terminal where we picked up our luggage and took the 150 bus to Golguksa temple where we would live like a monk for 24 hours. They gave us some clothes and showed us to the room we would be sleeping in. It was very different compared to what I was expecting. The facilities were very modern, with air conditioning, outlets, nice bathroom, and a refrigerator. We had some dinner and headed up for some martial arts practice. Seonmudo, the type of martial arts taught at this temple, has been around for a long time and definitely kicked my pants. It was a pretty hard workout. I haven’t been that exhausted when I went to sleep in a long time. Meditation and bows the next morning started at 4:30 so I knew I wouldn’t get getting very much sleep …

After we were done with Daegu we headed on an express bus to Gyeongju where we would sleep and head out early to get in as much sightseeing the next day before starting our templestay experience. After leaving the Gyeongju express bus terminal a taxi driver tried to get me to go to the location where all the best hotels are but I told him no. He kept insisting there weren’t any close hotels, but I knew better. After walking no more than two blocks we found a decent hotel for a very good price. Good try taxi driver man. Good try.

The next destination was the third infiltration tunnel and the Dora observatory. The third infiltration tunnel wasn’t that interesting, but it’s still one of those places that you just have to go anyway. It’s a lot smaller in width than I would have thought. I had to bend over most of the way while walking through the tunnel. One of the more interesting things of note is that the walls were painted with coal so that North Korea could try to claim it was a coal mine or something. At the Dora observatory we could see into Gaesong, the second biggest North Korean city and the location where South Korean companies hire North Korean labor.

The last and definitely most not-notable stop was Dorasan station. It was built fairly recently and was used for a brief time to transport materials to Gaesong and back before being shut down do to many issues with the North Korean government. Now it’s only open to tourists to go and see.

After arriving in Seoul and finishing the DMZ tour we went strait to Insadong to get some presents for my parents to bring back to the states. It was such a clear night I decided to bring them up to Seoul Tower on the cable car. Apparently everyone else in Seoul had the same thoughts because the lines were absolutely atrocious.

Or buy an umbrella, whatever works.

EDIT: Seems it was just a spurt. More to come soon probably …

Thus ends my epic end-of-summer traveling.  Enjoy the pics~

We then took the subway to Seoul Station and took the train down to Suwon to see Hwaseong Fortress.  Before getting in the station we ran into an interesting gather outside having to do with peace and unification so we stopped and watched for a minute.

Oh yeah, I don’t have any pics from it, but I did take my parents to Yongsan and walked down the red light district (where woman present themselves at windows as they wait for male customers to get *cough* service).  My mom really enjoys seeing ‘different’ things and she did enjoy getting to see something extremely out of the ordinary ^^  For those who don’t know where it is, it’s between the new and old Yongsan station on a street which has blinds which partially block the view down the street from the main sidewalk and says in Korean ‘Youth prohibited’ or something like that (can’t remember).

With that in mind, here is a proxy you probably shouldn’t use.  Here is an interesting site which has been talked about lately which you shouldn’t look at and I won’t hyperlink since you shouldn’t be clicking it anyway: http://twitter.com/uriminzok.  For some reason, the YouTube channel isn’t blocked so I guess it’s okay to go there.  There was a lot about it in the news recently.  I’ve got to say though, it’s incredibly boring stuff (from what I hear …).

Stay tuned for a post on every day of my trip with details on where we went and what we did. Destinations include Gyeongbok Palace, the DMZ (JSA), ancient Shilla relics in beautiful Gyeongju, herbal medicine market in Daegu, a martial arts templestay for a day and night at Golgulsa, and the Korea Folk Village.